struggles, in the Epistles of St. Jerome, who had
himself been an athlete
in these ascetic contests.
"Oh, how many times," wrote St. Jerome to
Eustochium, the virgin
to whom he addressed one of the longest and most
interesting of
his letters, "when in the desert, in that vast
solitude which,
burnt up by the heart of the sun, offers but a
horrible dwelling
to monks, I imagined myself among the delights of
Rome! I was
alone, for my soul was full of bitterness. My limbs
were covered
by a wretched sack and my skin was as black as an
Ethiopian's.
Every day I wept and groaned, and if I was
unwillingly overcome
by sleep my lean body lay on the bare earth. I say
nothing of my
food and drink, for in the desert even invalids have
no drink but
cold water, and cooked food is regarded as a luxury.
Well, I,
who, out of fear of hell, had condemned myself to
this prison,
companion of scorpions and wild beasts, often seemed
in
imagination among bands of girls. My face was pale
with fasting
and my mind within my frigid body was burning with
desire; the
fires of lust would still flare up in a body that
already seemed
to be dead. Then, deprived of all help, I threw
myself at the
feet of Jesus, washing them with my tears and drying
them with my
hair, subjugating my rebellious flesh by long fasts.
I remember
that more than once I passed the night uttering
cries and
striking my breast until God sent me peace." "Our century," wrote
St. Chrysostom in his _Discourse to Those Who Keep
Virgins in
Their Houses_, "has seen many men who have bound
their bodies
with chains, clothed themselves in sacks, retired to
the summits
of mountains where they have lived in constant vigil
and fasting,
giving the example of the most austere discipline
and forbidding
all women to cross the thresholds of their humble
dwellings; and
yet, in spite of all the severities they have
exercised on
themselves, it was with difficulty they could
repress the fury of
their passions." Hilarion, says Jerome, saw visions of naked
women when he lay down on his solitary couch and
delicious meats
when he sat down to his frugal table. Such
experiences rendered
the early saints very scrupulous. "They used to
say," we are told
in an interesting history of the Egyptian
anchorites, Palladius's
_Paradise of the Holy Fathers_, belonging to the
fourth century
(A.W. Budge, _The Paradise_, vol. ii, p. 129), "that Abbâ Isaac
went out and found the footprint of a woman on the
road, and he
thought about it in his mind and destroyed it
saying, 'If a
brother seeth it he may fall.'" Similarly, according to the rules
of St. Cæsarius of Aries for nuns, no male clothing
was to be
taken into the convent for the purpose of washing or
mending.
Even in old age, a certain anxiety about chastity
still remained.
One of the brothers, we are told in _The Paradise_
(p. 132) said
to Abbâ Zeno, "Behold thou hast grown old, how is the matter of
fornication?" The venerable saint replied, "It knocketh, but it
passeth on."
As the centuries went by the same strenuous anxiety
to guard
chastity still remained, and the old struggle
constantly
reappeared (see, e.g., Migne's _Dictionnaire
d'Ascétisme_, art.
"Démon, Tentation du"). Some saints, it is true, like Luigi di
Gonzaga, were so angelically natured that they never
felt the
sting of sexual desire. These seem to have been the
exception.
St. Benedict and St. Francis experienced the
difficulty of
subduing the flesh. St. Magdalena de Pozzi, in order
to dispel
sexual desires, would roll on thorny bushes till the
blood came.
Some saints kept a special cask of cold water in
their cells to
stand in (Lea, _Sacerdotal Celibacy_, vol. i, p.
124). On the
other hand, the Blessed Angela de Fulginio tells us
in her
_Visiones_ (cap. XIX) that, until forbidden by her
confessor, she
would place hot coals in her secret parts, hoping by
material
fire to extinguish the fire of concupiscence. St.
Aldhelm, the
holy Bishop of Sherborne, in the eighth century,
also adopted a
homeopathic method of treatment, though of a more
literal kind,
for William of Malmsbury states that when tempted by
the flesh he
would have women to sit and lie by him until he grew
calm again;
the method proved very successful, for the reason,
it was
thought, that the Devil felt he had been made a fool
of.
In time the Catholic practice and theory of
asceticism became
more formalized and elaborated, and its beneficial
effects were
held to extend beyond the individual himself.
"Asceticism from
the Christian point of view," writes Brénier de
Montmorand in an
interesting study ("Ascétisme et Mysticisme," _Revue Philosophique_, March, 1904) "is nothing else than all the
therapeutic measures making for moral purification.
The Christian
ascetic is an athlete struggling to transform his
corrupt nature
and make a road to God through the obstacles due to
his passions
and the world. He is not working in his own
interests alone,
but--by virtue of the reversibility of merit which
compensates
that of solidarity in error--for the good and for
the salvation
of the whole of society."
This is the aspect of early Christian asceticism most
often emphasized.
But there is another aspect which may be less familiar, but has been by no
means less important. Primitive Christian chastity was on one side a
strenuous discipline. On another side it was a romance, and this indeed
was its most specifically Christian side, for athletic asceticism has been
associated with the most various religious and
philosophic beliefs. If,
indeed, it had not possessed the charm of a new
sensation, of a delicious
freedom, of an unknown adventure, it would never have
conquered the
European world. There are only a few in that world who have in them the
stuff of moral athletes; there are many who respond to the attraction of
romance.
The Christians rejected the grosser forms of sexual
indulgence, but in
doing so they entered with a more delicate ardor into
the more refined
forms of sexual intimacy. They cultivated a relationship of brothers and
sisters to each other, they kissed one another; at one time, in the
spiritual orgy of baptism, they were not ashamed to
adopt complete
nakedness.[74]
A very instructive picture of the forms which chastity assumed among the
early Christians is given us in the treatise of
Chrysostom _Against Those
who Keep Virgins in their Houses_. Our fathers,
Chrysostom begins, only
knew two forms of sexual intimacy, marriage and
fornication. Now a third
form has appeared: men introduce young girls into their houses and keep
them there permanently, respecting their virginity.
"What," Chrysostom
asks, "is the reason? It seems to me that life in common with a woman is
sweet, even outside conjugal union and fleshly commerce.
That is my
feeling; and perhaps it is not my feeling alone; it may also be that of
these men. They would not hold their honor so cheap nor give rise to such
scandals if this pleasure were not violent and
tyrannical.... That there
should really be a pleasure in this which produces a
love more ardent than
conjugal union may surprise you at first. But when I
give you the proofs
you will agree that it is so." The absence of restraint to desire in
marriage, he continues, often leads to speedy disgust, and even apart from
this, sexual intercourse, pregnancy, delivery,
lactation, the bringing up
of children, and all the pains and anxieties that
accompany these things
soon destroy youth and dull the point of pleasure. The virgin is free from
these burdens. She retains her vigor and youthfulness, and even at the age
of forty may rival the young nubile girl. "A double ardor thus burns in
the heart of him who lives with her, and the
gratification of desire never
extinguishes the bright flame which ever continues to
increase in
strength." Chrysostom describes minutely all the little cares and
attentions which the modern girls of his time required, and which these
men delighted to expend on their virginal sweethearts
whether in public or
in private. He cannot help thinking, however, that the man who lavishes
kisses and caresses on a woman whose virginity he
retains is putting
himself somewhat in the position of Tantalus. But this new refinement of
tender chastity, which came as a delicious discovery to the early
Christians who had resolutely thrust away the
licentiousness of the pagan
world, was deeply rooted, as we discover from the
frequency with which the
grave Fathers of the Church, apprehensive of scandal,
felt called upon to
reprove it, though their condemnation is sometimes not without a trace of
secret sympathy.[75]
There was one form in which the new Christian chastity flourished
exuberantly and unchecked: it conquered literature. The most charming,
and, we may be sure, the most popular literature of the early Church lay
in the innumerable romances of erotic chastity--to some extent, it may
well be, founded on fact--which are embodied to-day in the _Acta
Sanctorum_. We can see in even the most simple and non-miraculous early
Christian records of the martyrdom of women that the
writers were fully
aware of the delicate charm of the heroine who, like
Perpetua at Carthage,
tossed by wild cattle in the arena, rises to gather her torn garment
around her and to put up her disheveled hair.[76] It was an easy step to
the stories of romantic adventure. Among these
delightful stories I may
refer especially to the legend of Thekla, which has been placed,
incorrectly it may be, as early as the first century,
"The Bride and
Bridegroom of India" in _Judas Thomas's Acts_, "The Virgin of Antioch" as
narrated by St. Ambrose, the history of "Achilleus and Nereus," "Mygdonia
and Karish," and "Two Lovers of Auvergne" as told by Gregory of Tours.
Early Christian literature abounds in the stories of
lovers who had indeed
preserved their chastity, and had yet discovered the
most exquisite
secrets of love.
Thekla's day is the twenty-third of September. There
is a very
good Syriac version (by Lipsius and others regarded
as more
primitive than the Greek version) of the _Acts of
Paul and
Thekla_ (see, e.g., Wright's _Apocryphal Acts_).
These _Acts_
belong to the latter part of the second century. The
story is
that Thekla, refusing to yield to the passion of the
high priest
of Syria, was put, naked but for a girdle
(_subligaculum_) into
the arena on the back of a lioness, which licked her
feet and
fought for her against the other beasts, dying in
her defense.
The other beasts, however, did her no harm, and she
was finally
released. A queen loaded her with money, she
modified her dress
to look like a man, travelled to meet Paul, and
lived to old age.
Sir W.M. Ramsay has written an interesting study of
these _Acts_
(_The Church in the Roman Empire_, Ch. XVI). He is
of opinion
that the _Acts_ are based on a first century
document, and is
able to disentangle many elements of truth from the
story. He
states that it is the only evidence we possess of
the ideas and
actions of women during the first century in Asia
Minor, where
their position was so high and their influence so
great. Thekla
represents the assertion of woman's rights, and she
administered
the rite of baptism, though in the existing versions
of the
_Acts_ these features are toned down or eliminated.
Some of the most typical of these early Christian
romances are
described as Gnostical in origin, with something of
the germs of
Manichæan dualism which were held in the rich and
complex matrix
of Gnosticism, while the spirit of these romances is
also largely
Montanist, with the combined chastity and ardor, the
pronounced
feminine tone due to its origin in Asia Minor, which
marked
Montanism. It cannot be denied, however, that they
largely passed
into the main stream of Christian tradition, and
form an
essential and important part of that tradition.
(Renan, in his
_Marc-Aurèle_, Chs. IX and XV, insists on the
immense debt of
Christianity to Gnostic and Montanist
contributions). A
characteristic example is the story of "The
Betrothed of India"
in _Judas Thomas's Acts_ (Wright's _Apocryphal
Acts_). Judas
Thomas was sold by his master Jesus to an Indian
merchant who
required a carpenter to go with him to India. On
disembarking at
the city of Sandaruk they heard the sounds of music
and singing,
and learnt that it was the wedding-feast of the
King's daughter,
which all must attend, rich and poor, slaves and
freemen,
strangers and citizens. Judas Thomas went, with his
new master,
to the banquet and reclined with a garland of myrtle
placed on
his head. When a Hebrew flute-player came and stood
over him and
played, he sang the songs of Christ, and it was seen
that he was
more beautiful than all that were there and the King
sent for him
to bless the young couple in the bridal chamber. And
when all
were gone out and the door of the bridal chamber
closed, the
bridegroom approached the bride, and saw, as it
were, Judas
Thomas still talking with her. But it was our Lord
who said to
him, "I am not Judas, but his brother." And our Lord sat down on
the bed beside the young people and began to say to
them:
"Remember, my children, what my brother spake with you, and know
to whom he committed you, and know that if ye
preserve yourselves
from this filthy intercourse ye become pure temples,
and are
saved from afflictions manifest and hidden, and from
the heavy
care of children, the end whereof is bitter sorrow.
For their
sakes ye will become oppressors and robbers, and ye
will be
grievously tortured for their injuries. For children
are the
cause of many pains; either the King falls upon them
or a demon
lays hold of them, or paralysis befalls them. And if
they be
healthy they come to ill, either by adultery, or
theft, or
fornication, or covetousness, or vain-glory. But if
ye will be
persuaded by me, and keep yourselves purely unto
God, ye shall
have living children to whom not one of these
blemishes and hurts
cometh nigh; and ye shall be without care and
without grief and
without sorrow, and ye shall hope for the time when
ye shall see
the true wedding-feast." The young couple were
persuaded, and
refrained from lust, and our Lord vanished. And in
the morning,
when it was dawn, the King had the table furnished
early and
brought in before the bridegroom and bride. And he
found them
sitting the one opposite the other, and the face of
the bride was
uncovered and the bridegroom was very cheerful. The
mother of the
bride saith to her: "Why art thou sitting thus, and art not
ashamed, but art as if, lo, thou wert married a long
time, and
for many a day?" And her father, too, said; "Is it thy great love
for thy husband that prevents thee from even veiling
thyself?"
And the bride answered and said: "Truly, my father, I am in great
love, and am praying to my Lord that I may continue
in this love
which I have experienced this night. I am not
veiled, because the
veil of corruption is taken from me, and I am not
ashamed,
because the deed of shame has been removed far from
me, and I am
cheerful and gay, and despise this deed of
corruption and the
joys of this wedding-feast, because I am invited to
the true
wedding-feast. I have not had intercourse with a
husband, the end
whereof is bitter repentance, because I am betrothed
to the true
Husband." The bridegroom answered also in the same spirit, very
naturally to the dismay of the King, who sent for
the sorcerer
whom he had asked to bless his unlucky daughter. But
Judas Thomas
had already left the city and at his inn the King's
stewards
found only the flute-player, sitting and weeping
because he had
not taken her with him. She was glad, however, when
she heard
what had happened, and hastened to the young couple,
and lived
with them ever afterwards. The King also was finally
reconciled,
and all ended chastely, but happily.
In these same _Judas Thomas's Acts_, which are not
later than the
fourth century, we find (eighth act) the story of
Mygdonia and
Karish. Mygdonia, the wife of Karish, is converted
by Thomas and
flees from her husband, naked save for the curtain
of the chamber
door which she has wrapped around her, to her old
nurse. With the
nurse she goes to Thomas, who pours holy oil over
her head,
bidding the nurse to anoint her all over with it;
then a cloth is
put round her loins and he baptizes her; then she is
clothed and
he gives her the sacrament. The young rapture of
chastity grows
lyrical at times, and Judas Thomas breaks out:
"Purity is the
athlete who is not overcome. Purity is the truth
that blencheth
not. Purity is worthy before God of being to Him a
familiar
handmaiden. Purity is the messenger of concord which
bringeth the
tidings of peace."
Another romance of chastity is furnished by the
episode of
Drusiana in _The History of the Apostles_
traditionally
attributed to Abdias, Bishop of Babylon (Bk. v, Ch.
IV, _et
seq._). Drusiana is the wife of Andronicus, and is
so pious that
she will not have intercourse with him. The youth
Callimachus
falls madly in love with her, and his amorous
attempts involve
many exciting adventures, but the chastity of
Drusiana is finally
triumphant.
A characteristic example of the literature we are
here concerned
with is St. Ambrose's story of "The Virgin in the Brothel"
(narrated in his _De Virginibus_, Migne's edition of
Ambrose's
Works, vols. iii-iv, p. 211). A certain virgin, St.
Ambrose tells
us, who lately lived at Antioch, was condemned
either to
sacrifice to the gods or to go to the brothel. She
chose the
latter alternative. But the first man who came in to
her was a
Christian soldier who called her "sister," and bade her have no
fear. He proposed that they should exchange clothes.
This was
done and she escaped, while the soldier was led away
to death. At
the place of execution, however, she ran up and
exclaimed that it
was not death she feared but shame. He, however,
maintained that
he had been condemned to death in her place. Finally
the crown of
martyrdom for which they contended was adjudged to
both.
We constantly observe in the early documents of this
romantic
literature of chastity that chastity is insisted on
by no means
chiefly because of its rewards after death, nor even
because the
virgin who devotes herself to it secures in Christ
an ever-young
lover whose golden-haired beauty is sometimes
emphasized. Its
chief charm is represented as lying in its own joy
and freedom
and the security it involves from all the troubles,
inconveniences and bondages of matrimony. This early
Christian
movement of romantic chastity was clearly, in large
measure, a
revolt of women against men and marriage. This is
well brought
out in the instructive story, supposed to be of
third century
origin, of the eunuchs Achilleus and Nereus, as
narrated in the
_Acta Sanctorum_, May 12th. Achilleus and Nereus
were Christian
eunuchs of the bedchamber to Domitia, a virgin of
noble birth,
related to the Emperor Domitian and betrothed to
Aurelian, son
of a Consul. One day, as their mistress was putting
on her jewels
and her purple garments embroidered with gold, they
began in turn
to talk to her about all the joys and advantages of
virgini